ORNL Review Archive

Parallel Computing at ORNL. Computer scientists are learning how to use new parallel processing machines to meet ORNL's research needs. New parallel algorithms for solving large systems of equations have been developed at ORNL.

Protecting Human Health: The Chemical Challenge. Scientists at ORNL have developed several methods of detecting human responses to hazardous energy-related chemicals. They are using interferon as a bioeffects marker and are developing the "fluoroimmunosensor," which detects minute amounts of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in body fluids and tissues.

The Technology Transfer Fund: A Status Report on the ORNL Projects. ORNL, DOE, and the Office of Technology Applications of Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., have committed funds to stimulate innovation and bring ORNL technologies to the stage where their commercial potential can be judged. The status of five technology-transfer projects is described.

Pion Emission from Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions. A theorist said it couldn't be done, but nuclear physicists at ORNL's Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility accelerator have detected the emission of pions, short-lived particles that serve as the "glue" in the nucleus, from low-energy nuclear reactions. Current theory is being revised to explain how pions can be produced at unexpectedly low energies.

Fractals: Realm of Monster Curves and Irregular Solids A solid-state physicist has turned to fractals to understand the strange electrical properties of the interface between an electrode and various electrolytes. He suggests that fractals—a mathematical concept that describes a large class of irregular natural objects—could be useful in other areas of ORNL research.

Transuranium-Element Production and Research For almost two decades ORNL's High Flux lsotope Reactor (HFIR) and Transuranium Processing Plant (TRU) have produced most of the transuranium elements used by researchers in the Western world. ORNL's Transuranium Research Laboratory, where research is carried out on the HFIR-TRU products, has become an international center for collaborative research. ORNL collaboration with the University of Tennessee has been particularly strong in inorganic chemistry and solid-state physics.

State of the Laboratory- 1984: Exploring New Areas. In this updated report based on his February 5, 1985, address to the staff. Postma notes that the Laboratory's return on some investments has been remarkable. Seed money projects have brought about $4 in research funds to ORNL for every $1 invested by the internal Exploratory Studies Program. ORNL research also has helped others save money. For example, Laboratory recommendations on energy options have helped Liberia save up to $20 million annually. ORNL studies of the potential thermal shock problem of commercial nuclear reactors saved electric utilities millions of dollars.

Crickets and Coal Liquefaction Research. Several years ago cricket eggs exposed to a chemical under study in the synthetic fuels program hatched crickets with assorted abnormalities such as an extra eye, antenna, or head. The author tells how ORNL toxicologists and analytical chemists determined that certain trace substances cause these teratogenic effects and how they eventually identified a teratogenic compound in these substances.

Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development. Technical innovators and entrepreneurs are receiving new respectability as a result of a growing need for technical solutions to revitalize the economy. The time has come for East Tennessee to experience new economic development because both the need and capability for innovation and entrepreneurship are present.

Shooting for Fusion Energy Breakeven: Pellet Fueling Research at ORNL. ORNL scientists have developed a gun and a centrifuge accelerator to "shoot" frozen pellets of hydrogen fuel into tokamak fusion plasmas. One ORNL injector helped MIT exceed the Lawson criterion, another achieved steady-state plasma fueling, and an improved version of ORNL technology should help a Princeton tokamak's energy output equal the energy input.

Sleuthing with Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. ORNL analytical chemists helped a scientist from DOE's Savannah River Plant determine how the impurities in plutonium fuel degrade the properties of an ORNL-developed cladding alloy used for heat sources aboard spacecraft.

Disease-Causing Microbes: The Energy Connection. Heated waters and cooling towers associated with energy production can be a source of disease-causing microbes, including the Legionella bacteria responsible for the potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease. ORNL and UT researchers have discovered two new species of Legionella in artificially heated water.

Transportation Energy Conservation: What ORNL Models and Analyses Show The demand for and price of motor fuel have fluctuated considerably in recent years. David L. Greene and ORNL's Transportation Group have followed these fluctuations closely and analyzed consumer responses to fuel price changes and more efficient cars on the market. The group also has studied how to drive to save fuel.

Departments

Books.Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution is reviewed.